Ohio Senate panel vote set on school letter grades

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A bill bestowing familiar-looking A through F grades on Ohio school districts, buildings and specialty programs is headed to likely passage in the Ohio Senate.

The Senate Education Committee is scheduled to vote on the bill Tuesday, with Senate passage expected this week.

The bill would give letter grades to school districts, school buildings, community schools, STEM schools and college-preparatory boarding schools based on 13 performance measures.

The grades would replace the current five-tier system of ratings: excellent, effective, continuous improvement, academic watch, and academic emergency. The process would begin with a "dashboard" of letter grades available to the public but no overall grade for districts this coming year.

Community schools serving mostly academically challenged students would see a different scale developed.

The bill already cleared the Ohio House.